Urine particles contained in urine are analyzed in order to determine an abnormal part in a kidney or a urinary tract or its cause. For example, a urinary tract infection is often caused by a bacterial infection but may be caused by fungi. For this reason, urine analysis includes detection of fungi, as well as detection of bacteria.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-105625 (Patent Literature 1) and Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2007-255954 (Patent Literature 2) disclose a method of analyzing urine particles by flow cytometry. In this method, a urine sample is subjected to a staining process, and a distribution diagram is generated based on a scattered light signal and a fluorescence signal obtained from each particle component. Then, discrimination is made between yeast-like fungi and other particles, based on a difference between distribution areas on the distribution diagram.
Fungi, although collectively so called, have various forms, and some fungi are budding; others are not budding. The budding fungi include fungi in which divided cells form a cluster, and hypha-like budding fungi. The above Patent Literatures 1, 2 do not disclose how to classify fungi according to different forms of fungi. However, if fungi can be subclassified according to the forms and then be presented as test results, the information thus obtained can be used for diagnosis and medical treatment.